Friday, August 2, 2013

Jesus' kindness to Judas

After saying these
things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, "Truly, truly, I
say to you, one of you will betray me."The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was
reclining at table close to Jesus, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus
of whom he was speaking.So that
disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, "Lord, who is
it?"Jesus answered, "It is he
to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it." So when
he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.(John 13:21-26 ESV)

Dwight Pentecost comments on this passage...

"We now come to
an incident that reveals the depths of the love of Christ for sinners. Christ
announced to the Twelve that one of them would betray him, and no one was able
to identify who the betrayer would be. Peter is overcome with curiosity and gets
the attention of John, who is seated at the right hand of Christ, the second
place of honor, and asks him to find out who it is and relay the information to
him. And John asked Christ who it was, and he said, the one to whom I give the
bread. It was customary at the feast for the masterof the feast to take unleavened bread, which
was like a soft pancake, and put bits of lamb in it and roll it up and put in
it bitter herbs and then give one of those to each of the participants in the
feast. Christ was portraying that which Messiah would do when he would come. He
would provide salvation for sinners and offer that salvation to them through
the death of a sacrificial lamb. And in accepting and eating that bread, the
participant was signifying his willingness to accept the salvation that Messiah
would provide. Christ made the first sop, and he gave it to Judas. That meant
that he had placed Judas in the position of honor at his left hand. Even though
Christ knew that Judas had already covenanted to betray him, Christ treated
Judas as the honored guest at this Passover meal. In offering Judas that bread,
Christ is, even then, extending a gracious offer of salvation to Judas if he
will repent and put faith in himself. But instead of eating that bread to
signify his acceptance of that offered salvation, he rushed out of the room.
Judas rejected the grace that has been offered to him."(J. Dwight Pentecost, The Life of Christ)